Tag Archives: Random Update

Yes, I’m coming out of hiding…no, not really hiding, and it’s not quite time for me to hibernate…ah, heck, I’m not sure where I’ve been…anyway, I’m here to post a random update.

No, really, I just felt like posting…

Okay, fine, I’m desperately avoiding EDITING HELL. Besides posting, I’ve actually started cleaning house AND doing laundry. I need to get to the editing stage more often. ;D

Yes, as I mentioned before, I’ve finished the first draft of Along Came Jones, and am now editing the crap out of it. Um…pun intended, I guess, LOL. It’s going remarkably smoothly, which always makes me nervous, and if I would stop procrastinating, I’d be on the 3rd draft by now. Maybe even the fourth.

As for what else have I been up to: well, I’ve had both cats to the vet this summer, and no, I don’t take them regularly, and yes, I know I’m a bad fur-mom, but on the other hand, they never go outside, and until this summer were perfectly healthy and badly behaved. Now they’re back to being both, only I’m ultra paranoid with them now. They’re pretty much sick and tired of me prodding at them every time they look extra sleepy – LOL.

In terms of the current book tour, it’s been, um…well, a little weird. As far as I can tell, very few of the scheduled stops posted on the days they were scheduled, but I do know some have posted on different days. I need to do a round up post and update the schedule. I knew this one would be very different, because it’s very long and has lots of (potential) posts, plus book clubs reviewing the book (don’t analyze it, just enjoy it!!) but I haven’t kept up-to-date with the tour stops, and now I’m out of the habit of checking every morning. Ugh.

Ah, well, everything is a lesson learned, and I’ve learned a lot from all the tours I’ve had this year. 🙂

As for work, well…the things I’d like to say after last week are inappropriate in this forum, so I’ll just say that I’m still gainfully employed, and I’m still enjoying it more than 50% of the time. I think that’s pretty good.

Anyway, I guess I’d better get back to editing…although maybe I should dust my TV stand first…

Long time no update (again). I planned to post an update last week, but, well…it was a bit up and down.

Sunday night (August 10th), I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT of Along Came Jones. Confetti was flung, tears were shed, couches were collapsed upon, and there was great rejoicing throughout the land…or at least in my townhouse. I planned on posting a giddy, happy update on Monday to share my euphoria…

…and then the news about Robin Williams broke.

No, I didn’t know him personally, but just like for millions of others, he was an actor who was part of my childhood (Mork and Mindy), and my young adulthood (Good Morning, Vietnam!) and my later adulthood (Good Will Hunting – I still sob like a child when I watch that movie). I’ve watched his stand-up routines and his interviews, and I’ve laughed until I’ve cried, and my heart had gone out to him in his more vulnerable moments. He made me laugh, he made me cry, he made me respect his intelligence and his talent. Falling in love with him was a gradual thing, but fall in love I did, and the news he was gone was simply heart-wrenching.

Why he took his life is something that only he could ever fully understand. I can only hope for nothing but peace for his family, and for their good memories to outweigh the bad. I also hope he’s now at peace. I’m so grateful we had him, and I’m so sad to see him go.

Just as I was getting used to the idea of Robin Williams being gone, I learned that Lauren Bacall also passed away last week. My sorrow for her was different than for Robin Williams (she was 89; she was a living legend; she had the best voice in show business; she was so talented), but it was sorrow, nonetheless. It’s the sadness of knowing an icon is gone, mixed with the gratitude that she had existed in the first place.

Once again, I wasn’t really in the mood to post about my finished first draft.

SO, while I’m much more in the mood, this somewhat-rambling post will just have to do for today. I’ll post a happier, more focused on my writing news, post in the next day or so. 🙂

My apologies for being MIA for the last couple of weeks. Between being unable to find the posts on my host blogs (I’ve found some now!!), Twitter confusing the hell out of me, Biggie’s turn for a vet visit (nothing major and he seems all right now), work, arguing with my muse, and waking up with a #$!@$%! headache EVERY DAY for the LAST WEEK (did I say #$!@$%! already?), time has slipped away.We won’t talk about sleeping in yesterday, or missing the bus last week, or…wait. We’re not talking about all that. *cough*

So as not to confuse myself, and to make sure I give proper thanks to my blog hosts, I’ll be doing a separate post with all the stops I’ve found, and then keeping on top of things a bit better. I should get to that later today.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m on a bit of a hiatus with the book tours. They should be starting up again shortly and I’ll be posting here when they do. 🙂

The first thing I’m going to mention here this morning is the fact that I have three book cover projects up for submissions on Crowdspring. If you or someone you know is a graphic designer/artist, please forward the links on to them. 🙂

Which brings me to the second part of my blog today: Sausages and Writing. I can see your puzzled puppy looks… ;D

There’s a saying (I heard it on The West Wing): “There are two things nobody should see you make: sausages, and laws.” I’ve been involved in making both (on the periphery of making laws, but still…) and truer words have never been spoken. I’m beginning to think “writing” should be added to the list!

Like making sausages, it’s messy, gross and slightly obscene. While you’re making sausages, you can taste test the mixture and taste test it and still can’t figure out exactly what’s missing. We’ve spent a lot of time nibbling at a piece of sausage meat going, “I don’t know what it is, but something’s missing. Garlic?” “No, garlic’s good. Sage?” “Sage is good. Maybe we just need more salt?” Making sausage is best done as a collaborative effort because you need all the taste buds you can get.

Well, that niggling “I don’t know what it is, but something’s missing” has had me derailed for the last couple of months in terms of my writing Along Came Jones. I love the characters, love the premise, love a lot of the scenes/banter/plot points. But for the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to read the thing through to smooth out tone/plot/characterization/etc., etc. – and always got derailed halfway through because DAMN IT SOMETHING WAS MISSING!!!

Which would be where the obscene part begins.

I am happy to report, however, that I think I’ve pinpointed the problem (FINALLY!). It means reorganizing the beginning, and rewriting an entire chapter, which will then have repercussions throughout the story, but well…that’s what happens with the spices in sausages, too: they sometimes need time to permeate throughout the mixture.

Can I work a metaphor or what?

In the meantime, I’m commissioning a cover for it, along with Plugs and HIstorian’s Daughter. The latter two have the same issue of “something’s missing” coupled with “OMG – who’s gonna buy these?” but I love them so much that I’m willing to take the risk of nasty reviews and no sales to get them polished and sent out into the wild. Plus getting them in book form in my hot little hands. Hey, I named my publishing company “Love of Words” for a reason!

Once again, it’s been a while since I updated. What’s been happening??

1. Well, Christmas. Of course. I spent a week in Saskatchewan with my family; I’d missed the last two Christmases so I knew I had to get home this year. Always nice to spend time with the family, but, of course, there’s never enough time to see/do everything. Sigh.

2. Writing. Sloooowwwwllllyyyy. I think I’m finally past the road block I was struggling with. Not writer’s block, not even a plot block. More of a rhythm block? Segue block? I’m having trouble transitioning from one point to the next at one specific point in the story. Ugh. I’m at the point where I need to fill in the empty spaces, so I can’t just go my usual merrily writing way and ignore the gaps. Sooner or later, it’ll be done – LOL.

3. Looking for work. I had an interview in late December, and they just informed me yesterday that I didn’t get the job. I’m not really all that sad about it; it was basically doing the exact same thing I’d been doing, and I had mixed emotions about it. It’s time to start going to temp agencies and let the Universe give me what opportunities it deems fit. ;D

4. Hibernating. It’s been frickin’ cold, and snowy, and frickin’ cold and snowy. Yep. Winter can stop at any time. Or at least ease up a bit.

5. BOOK TOURS!! My next book tour starts January 6th, and I’ll be adding a page today for those stops. Eeeeee!!!! VERY excited about it!!! 😀

What have you guys been up to???

Hope everyone had a great holiday season, and all the best for 2014!! Looking forward to whatever the future may bring! 😀

Not sure where the time is going, only that it’s going far, far too quickly!

So, what have I been doing??

1. Settling in to my new place, after the most disorganized move I’ve ever experienced (and I’ve moved A LOT). I still have quite a few boxes to unpack after 1.5 months, but I’m getting there. 🙂

2. The Grunt has finally come out of semi-hiding, and wants to look out windows and everything! The Runt’s been out of hiding since two days after we moved in. Mind you, she’s tiny and can hide in the darnedest places…including on top of the pipes in the basement. She looks like a cougar, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey (me).

3. Writing, part 1. Nanowrimo, of course, is on in full force. My goal is to write 50,000 words this month across multiple works in progress, and I’m well on my way to making that goal – whooo!! \o/ I’ve been running my own 10-minute word sprints and holy smokes, that just churns out the words!

4. Writing, part 2. I’ve been plugging away on Along Came Jones. And yeah, I think I’m sold on that name now – LOL. I was starting to feel like I should print it out just so I could BURN IT IN EFFIGY, but I was distracted by another plot bunny for a couple of days (saved my NaNo word count). I came back to it yesterday, and I am once again in love with the characters and the story. Now, if I can just finish it by the end of December, and then start on the editing process… o.O My goal is a mid-April release date…unless, of course, I really do snap and THROW IT AND MY COMPUTER THROUGH THE NEAREST WINDOW!! *cough* *ahem*

Moving on…

5. Arranging Book Tours. Yep, I’m taking A Life Less Ordinary back out on the road. Well, the virtual road, anyway. And because I’m seriously unhinged, I’m setting up a bunch of tours to run consecutively. If all goes well, the book will be on tour from January 6th until sometime in August. I’ll post schedule(s) as soon as I have the tours confirmed (i.e., all paid for). Why am I doing this? Because I want to try different tour companies, and because, well, I really enjoyed the other tours. Besides, anything worth doing is worth OVER-doing. ;D

7. Last but definitely not least: Cheering my home province’s football team on to a Grey Cup 2013 victory!!! Rider Pride, baby!! And it only took six years this time to win it again (instead of 23 and 18)!

Okay, I got them on Friday, but I’ve been enjoying having my own stuff again – LOL. Not that I was away from everything that long, but with all the glitches with this move, I was beginning to think I’d never get it finished. 😀

I realize it’s been quite a while since I posted anything on the blog, but in my defense, I was busy searching for an apartment, packing, doing things related to selling a house, packing, going to Montreal, packing, moving, then waiting, then waiting some more…most disorganized move EVER.

BUT, basically, DONE. Moved, and getting settled. Still have about half my stuff to unpack, but I don’t have to push it as hard anymore now the cable guy has been and gone. Which my body appreciates – especially my back, which I wrenched the day before the movers (finally) delivered my stuff. It’s much better now, just an occasional twinge, but the first few days…UGH!!!!

Anyway, had my first blood sacrifice here, too: the dryer bit me last night and took a small chunk of skin from the base of my thumb nail (the cuticle). Hurt. Like. HELL. Anybody who expects me to withstand torture for them is going to be SOL, because I’m gonna sing like a canary when they threaten the fingers!! Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!!!

Other than that…just getting geared up for NaNo (www.nanowrimo.org); thinking about organizing several more book review tours for A Life Less Ordinary; I’ve been horribly negligent with working on my latest book, so I have to focus on that again…what else??? Oh yeah – I have to look for work, too. ;D

Bottom line: glad to be moved, and looking forward to getting back into a routine!